I have a litter who never seems to get enough milk. They go from nipple to nipple and get frustrated after about 15 minutes.. They are big puppies and gaining daily. When is the earliest you have intriduced solid foods to your pups?

What you are describing sounds perfectly normal, when the mother first lets down the milk, there is a big rush of milk to the teats, that is when you see them all sucking quietly and intense, then as they drain the teat out after a few minutes they start switching around from nipple to nipple looking to see if another may be better than the one they just had. If they are gaining daily then it sounds like they are getting enough. If you have any doubts you can bottle feed to supplement if they are too young to wean, I would not wean before 3 weeks if it is not necessary.

When they get teeth. But if they are gaining no need to replace mothers milk which is the perfect food for them. Give them a water bowl. If its hot they might be thirsty and not hungry.

what are you using to wean-gruel (and if so what are you mixing) or, do you go to straight puppy food?

If you don't want to wean yet, have you thought of increasing fat content in mom's milk? I give 1 cup of vanilla icecream 3 times a day to moms with large litters for high fat milk. I've had up to 11 large pups still nursing at 4 weeks before weaning was begun and mom was in great shape with this. Just an idea. All the best to your little ones.

I always start feeding at 3 weeks unless less that 4 pups. Then might wait a couple extra days. Youngest, with big litters at 2 1/2 weeks have been known to give a smaller pup a little at 2 weeks. Pro Plan Puppy soaked with warm water. I have never waited until they had teeth. I do not wean at 3 weeks but do start feeding once a day for a couple of days and then twice and so on. They are weaned at a little over 5 weeks.

Raised a litter of 10 we had to tube feed and they started lapping liquidy gruel at 16 days old. Introduced it to each pup individually in a little saucer. Usually have to steady them at the saucer, don't fill the saucer so much that they will dunk their whole nose... sometimes have to dip pinky finger in and let them get hang of it by sucking the liquid off the pinky finger, then they get the hank of lapping.


Normally I offer it at 19 days for the first time but find they usually don't take off on it until 21 days old.

My repro vet says day 18 is the first day they can handle real food. I usually feed them one meal on that day. Some moms just don't have as much to give as others, so some pups are really hungry and some just play in it.

To answer your question, I have given pups solid food as early as 2 1/2 weeks old.
I soak ProPlan Puppy in an equal amount of boiling hot water. Then wait until it cools down to a little warmer than eating temperature. It will get all soft and mushy. Then I add some evaporated canned milk to it. By then it should be just the right temperature & texture. If the pups are not getting enough mom's milk, they will just dive in.

HOWEVER, the first thing I do, at about 2 weeks old, is to start adding a half can of evaporated milk to each of the MOM's meals to increase her milk production. My vet is a second generation Cornell man and he learned that trick from his vet/dad. Milk makes milk!

Good luck with your pups.

I was always told that you do not give food before 3 weeks of age, as the puppies are NOT able to digest it anyway, and it will just go right thru them. Furthermore, puppies cannot digest any milk except canine milk , untill after 3 weeks anyway. Feeding prior to 3 weeks of age, leaves puppies much more susceptible to allergies later in life .

orphaned puppies or ones that need to be supplemented due to not enough mothers milk-they have to be digesting the formulas or they wouldn't survive...

Laura, can one use low fat evaporated milk or does it have to be the regular ?

Does it give the mom and pups lose stool by adding the evaporated milk ?

I used to use goat's milk in the can for many years then I diluted it with water because of how lose the stools were.

The earliest I begin a soft food or gruel was at 2.5 weeks. I did that with exceptionally large litters. Otherwise, I begin food at 3 weeks.

I never use the low-fat.
I never noticed loose stools and I've been using the evaporated milk for about 28 years.